CHOOSING BOOKS

Read and remember how to use the words:

novel: a historical novel; the latest novel; a short novel; a novel by Dickens; his favourite novels. Leo Tolstoy's famous novel War and Peace is well known throughout the world.

chapter: a long chapter; a short chapter; to the end of the chapter. I haven't come to that chapter yet. Do you think it is the most exciting chapter in the novel?

cover: the cover of a book; the front cover; to read a book from cover to cover. The novel was so exciting; I read it from cover to cover. The cover of this book has come off. It needs a new cover.

contents: the contents of a book (a novel, an article). Have you discussed the contents of the play? It was not an easy task to tell the contents of the novel in a few words.

table of contents: How does the table of contents help the reader? The table of contents shows the order in which the topics in the book are discussed; it gives the title of each chapter and the page on which it begins.

volume: How many volumes are there in the school library? You can find the works of different authors in many volumes on the bookshelves.

to publish: to publish a book (news, information). When was this novel first published? Was the article published in yesterday's paper?

choice: a good (poor) choice of books; to make one's choice. Is there a good choice of books in our school library? This is my choice. You have made a good choice.

fiction: non-fiction; science-fiction. In the library books are divided into two main groups, fiction and non-fiction.

prose: He works both in poetry and prose. The prose form is usually used for telling long, complex stories.

verse: She used to write plays in verse. He has published a book of verse.

review: a review of a book; to write a review; to publish reviews of books. Where can we find reviews of children's books? May I have a magazine with reviews of the latest books?

plot: The book has an original plot. Tell me the plot of the film.

theme: the main theme of the book; the theme of a discussion. The main theme of the play was clear.

MORE WORDS TO DESCRIBE BOOKS, AUTHORS, READERS

to express, expression, expressive: to express an idea, an opinion, feelings, an expressive language. She expressed herself through art. The writer expresses his views and ideas in clear and simple words. When I saw the expression on his face, I realized how angry he was. Their playing of Beethoven was full of expression.

to depict: The author depicted his characters very convincingly, as if he'd had similar experience in his life. Realistic writing often depicts the everyday life and speech of ordinary people.

to portray: to portray life truthfully. The artist portrayed the sunny field in brilliant colour. The author portrayed the village as a delightful place.

vivid: a vivid imagination, a vivid description. There are perhaps several faults in this book but we can't help admiring its vivid descriptions. The character of the hero is vividly drawn in the book. There are lots of things of interest at the exhibition that vividly demonstrate the latest achievements in medicine. Do you think that vivid descriptions add interest to a book?

to reveal: to reveal the truth, to reveal a character's personality, to reveal human nature. Which episodes in the book best revealed the characters' personalities? The fog cleared and revealed the distant hills.

to arouse: to arouse emotions, to arouse feelings of sympathy, to arouse admiration. Their terrible sufferings aroused our pity.

appeal, to appeal: to appeal to somebody's interests. Books bring people pleasure and delight, and appeal to the readers' own interests. Do these paintings appeal to you? Bright colours appeal to small children. That sort of music doesn't have much appeal for me.

to respond, response, responsive: to respond to the characters from the story, to respond to kindness, to respond to someone's needs, to act in response, a responsive audience. The pupils responded to questions by raising their hands. He was surprised to see no response to his attention. The children proved to be the quickest and the most responsive members of the audience.

episode: Will you please describe the most powerful episode from the chapter? The novel, episode by episode, shows how the hero was making his own way of life.

passage: Do you remember any powerful passage that you came across in your reading?

similar: words with a similar meaning, to write in a similar manner. How are these authors similar. Their situation seems to have been very similar to ours. These authors are similar in style.

influence, to influence: to influence the readers, an influence on character. What is the influence of literature on young people? Our literary tastes are influenced by classical writers. I don't want him to influence me in my choice.

literary: a literary work, literary success, a literary critic, a literary style. A book which is well-known and thought to be of a very high literary standard is a classic.

well-read: Her brother was very sociable, active, intelligent, and very well-read. She was very well-read in the literary classics.

to possess: to possess some qualities, to possess courage, to possess a talent for writing poetry. Can you name a poet who doesn't possess a powerful imagination?

lack, to lack: a lack of knowledge, a lack of information, lack of emotion, lack of discipline, to lack words, to lack wisdom. Lack of time prevented me from writing to you. He is clever but he lacks experience.

peculiarity: peculiarities of speech and behaviour, peculiarities of style. Have you ever noticed any peculiarities of his habits or character?

genius: men of genius. A genius is a person with unusually great powers of mind or imagination. There have been many brilliant women scientists, but very few women have been mathematical geniuses.

contemporary: a contemporary writer, contemporary records of events. This is the language of contemporary Britain. The collection presents good examples of contemporary short stories.

enrich: To enrich one's knowledge, vocabulary. Reading good books enriches your mind.

BOOKS and AUTHORS...

• possess expressive language;
  
• possess a skill with language;
  
• have a great lyrical power and an ability to arouse strong emotions;
  
• have a sense of humour;
  
• possess an ability to portray life truthfully;
  
• possess an ability to reveal the character's personality;
  
• depict chatacters /places/life etc. vividly;
  
• have peculiar literary style;
  
• depict/portray life in its richness;
  
• give vivid descriptions of ...;
  
• arouse admiration, sympathy, curiosity, excitement etc.;
  
• appeal to readers' interests, tastes, feelings;
  
• contain powerful (exciting, thrilling, touching, intriguing) passages, episodes;
  
• influence the reader;
  
• enrich the readers' knowlwdge, vocabulary;
  
• develop one's literary taste;
  
• bring pleasure and delight;
  
• contain vivid illustrations;
  
• have an intriguing plot/unexpected ending;
  
• is/are thought-provoking;
  
• provide the reader with true facts and exact information.
  

PRACTICE

Exercise 1. Take any book you like.
a) Examine its cover, its title page and its table of contents. Say what information they give about:
· the author of the book;
· the publisher;
· the year in which the book was published;
· the topics which the book covers.
b) Do you think this information is valuable to the reader? Give your reasons.


Exercise 2. How do you choose books? Answer the questions:
c) When you go to the library (or a bookshop), do you always know which books you want to look for?
d) When you see a lot of new books at the library (shop), do you find it easy to make a choice?
e) What helps you to make a choice - the pictures in the book, its cover, the table of contents, the advice of the librarian or one of your classmates?


Exercise 3. Books offer romance, history, adventure, autobiography, science fiction and humour in the form of short stories, novels, poetry and plays.
Find out what your classmates prefer and why.

WHY NOT WRITE BOOK REVIEWS?

Exercise 4. There are some more new books in the school library. The pupils are choosing books to read. Here is what they are talkinq about.

a) Listen to the dialogue, then read it. Say what a book review is and where book reviews can be kept.

Ann: Here's a book I'd like to read. It's about adventures. I can tell that by the title. I'm sure I'd like it.
Nick: But titles don't always tell you what a book is about.
Teacher: No, that's true. So why not write book reviews?
Ann: What's a book review?
Teacher: A book review is a short report about a book. It tells just enough to give a person an idea about the story.
Nick: But how shall we know that the book is really very interesting and worth reading?
Teacher: A person who has read a book writes a review of it. You write a review of your favourite book. You write why you enjoyed the book. You ought also to write something to interest other people in the book and make them want to read it.
Mike: Reviews of our favourite books will be very helpful to others, I'm sure. But where shall we keep the reviews?
Teacher: You may sew the reviews together and make a booklet, which can be kept on the library table. Or you may write very short reviews on cards and keep them in a box which is called a "Book File". You may also write reviews for our school magazine.

b) Say what a person ought to write to show that the book is worth reading.

Exercise 5. Prepare a book review. Explain why you enjoy the book.

Things to mention:
1. Name the title and the author.
2. Say what kind of book it is.
3. Is the plot interesting? Why? Speak about the contents of the book or briefly describe an exciting part of the book.
4. Did the book teach you anything new about people, places or things? Was the book fun?
5. Would you recommend this book to a friend? Give your reasons.

Formulas to use:
1. The book is a must for those who are interested in ...
2. The book may seem dull / complicated at first but when you get into it you'll ...
3. You will be taken up by the book /adventures / remarkable description ...
4. You won't tear yourself away from the book/ the page.
5. You never know what may happen next. It adds a lot to your impressions.
6. The language of the book is rich/beautiful/clear/lively.
7. You will enjoy the way the author describes/shows ...
8. The book gives much food for thoughts. It makes you think about ...
9. You will read the book at a stretch.
10. The book is worth reading /true to life /enjoyable /thrilling /humorous /informative